The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) intends to expand its deployment of RFID-enabled baggage-screening technology to 60 lanes at U.S. airports by the end of this year. The TSA, an agency of the Department of Homeland Security, has been using RFID during a pilot being carried out at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport since the end of May 2016 (see TSA Installs RFID-enabled Screening System at Atlanta Airport to Cut Wait Times). The technology has proven to increase passenger-screening efficiency by 30 percent, the agency reports, and it is thus in the process of working with several airlines to install the solution at multiple airports.
For the first of those projects, scheduled to be completed in the fall of this year, the TSA will work with American Airlines to install the technology at the Chicago O’Hare International, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles International and Miami International airports. Robert Isom, American Airlines’ COO, sent a letter to his company’s employees indicating that the airline is spending $5 million to enhance the screening technology at the American Airlines hubs. “Automated screening lanes are pretty new to U.S. airports,” he wrote, “and incorporate the latest technology so that things done manually today can be done electronically tomorrow.”
The RFID-based system consists of automated conveyor belts that transport passengers’ bags to X-ray machines, automatically diverting any that require additional scrutiny so they can be manually searched by TSA personnel. The passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID tags attached to each bin enable this process by transmitting data to interrogators installed at multiple locations along the belts, explains Mark Howell, a TSA regional spokesperson.
In May, the TSA and Delta Airlines installed two RFID-enabled screening lanes at the Atlanta airport. The bins come with UHF RFID tags attached to them, each with a unique ID number. An RFID reader at the entrance to the X-ray machines enables that bin’s ID to be linked to a picture automatically taken of the bin’s contents.
If the system or screening personnel spot a suspicious-looking item within the bin, it is rerouted to an area for manual screening. Another RFID reader captures that event, thereby triggering the system to display the picture of the bin’s contents on the screen, so that it can be compared against the X-ray image before the staff begins searching the contents. TSA personnel can also use a handheld RFID reader to pull up the bin and X-ray images, so that they can be sure they are searching the correct bin. (With the manual method, employees need to be told what they are searching for, and they typically do not have the X-ray in front of them while conducting searches.)
The system now being installed at the American Airlines security lanes will operate in the same way, using hardware known as Mach Smartlane, provided by MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd.
Airlines and the TSA have been struggling to address the increased wait times at security checkpoints in airports across the United States. The TSA was pleased to find that the technology being trialed in Atlanta increased efficiency (the rate at which passengers were screened) by 30 percent, Howell says, though he adds that there are still areas for improvement.
For instance, Howell says, the new technology tends to confuse passengers when they first encounter the system. “What we’re trying to do is work on the psychology piece,” he states. “People who encounter it for the first time don’t know what to do. The data shows that right now, there’s still a learning curve.” To address that problem, the TSA is focusing on signage and verbal explanations from divesting officers (the agency’s staff members who stand at the front of the line, instructing passengers). “They have a much more important role,” he says, regarding the divesting officers.
The TSA hopes that the new security system will be adopted similarly to how grocery-store customers are using self-checkout technologies. Therefore, when passengers become accustomed to the RFID-enabled security lanes, Howell expects that the solution will provide greater than 30 percent efficiency boosts.
The TSA is presently working with numerous airlines, Howell reports, and funding is a discussion that is expected to include some commitment from airlines, as well as from the TSA. There are nearly 150 airports within the United States, some of which have only a single screening lane, while others feature up to 50 lanes. In the long run, he says, the TSA would like to see the RFID-enabled screening technology in use at most of those lanes nationwide.
Another TSA project for 2016 involves installing computed tomography (CT) technology at one screening checkpoint at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, though not in conjunction with RFID at this time. American will become the first U.S. airline to deploy CT technology at a TSA screening checkpoint, Isom said in his letter. Currently, he noted, such technology is used only to screen checked bags. When applied to the security lane, it will allow customers to leave liquids, gels, aerosols and laptops in their carry-on bags. “Think of the time – and bins! – that saves,” he wrote.